credited As

ABC Television Network
Nashville, the brainchild of Academy Award-winning writer Callie Khouri (Thelma &amp; Louise), started off with a ton of promise. The pilot was heavily promoted and the audience that tuned in was treated to an inside look at the clashing generations within the country music industry... a real life storyline that has been repeating ever since the advent of rock-and-roll. Connie Britton seemed to take her Friday Night Lights character and make her a successful music icon along the lines of Reba McEntire, while Hayden Panettiere schemed convincingly as the up-and-coming singer who's part Taylor Swift, part ice princess.
Early on, the show focused on the yin and the yang of Britton and Panettiere's relationship, with the former's Rayna Jaymes stuck in a career rut and Panettiere's Juliette Barnes more interested in kicking the established Queen of Country while she's down than helping her get back up. Throw in Charles Esten's caught-in-the-middle guitarist and there was plenty of drama to go around. Certainly, there were some soap opera elements — the parentage of Rayna's older daughter and the political machinations of her husband and powerful father among them — but as long as Britton and Panettiere were at the center the show stayed fairly even keel.
Then came the back half of the first season and things started to go off track. After initially steering clear of cameos, despite shooting on-location in Nashville, suddenly every member of the Grand Ole Opry started popping up to squeeze in a line or two. Juliette's mother appeared and brought a little too much crazy, while Rayna's husband became the mayor and left her for Kimberly Williams-Paisley. Season 2 became even more scattered as the focus shifted to ancillary characters like Clare Bowen's Scarlett and Sam Palladio's Gunnar. Next thing you know, there are assassination plots and a murder-suicide, Juliette is ostracized for questioning the existence of God, and Rayna finds her Tim McGraw in Will Chase's Luke.
Enough! While it's fine that the show has some soap opera elements — so do Scandal and Grey's Anatomy — Nashville has gone so far off-course that some fans have already abandoned it. It's not completely a lost cause, though. With the second season winding down, there are still ways to fix it.
For starters, keep the cameos to a minimum. Just because Rascal Flatts or some NASCAR driver is available doesn't mean that you need to put them on the show. Once and a while is fine, but not every episode... and not when there really isn't any purpose to their being around. Next, lose the political intrigue. No offense to Eric Close, but we don't really care about Mayor Teddy.
Most importantly, put the focus back on Rayna and Juliette. Britton and Panettiere aren't just capable actresses, at their best they are both mesmerizing. Preventing them from engaging with each other — whether in conflict or in country congeniality — is like moving Scandal's Olivia Pope out of D.C.; the whole reason for the show would be lost. Keeping Juliette down too long is a mistake, just as it would be to tone down her ego or her conniving. We don't need her in a happy relationship with Jonathan Jackson's Avery... we need her using all of her assets to get back to the top.
Similarly, Britton needs a good, juicy storyline to sink her teeth into. Having a happy and contented Rayna is not in the best interest of the show. She should be scraping and clawing to maintain her career, not chit-chatting with other country music royalty about her fledgling record label.
The show is teetering on the brink of oblivion — or, worse, irrelevance — and needs to act fast to bring back into focus the stories that drew us in at first. Otherwise, it will be a tough sell to get viewers to come back for season three… if there even is one.
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Katy Perry and Jennifer Lawrence have emerged as top Kids' Choice stars after leading all nominees for the upcoming Nickelodeon prizegiving. Both leading ladies are up for three awards - Perry will compete for Favorite Song (Roar), Favorite Female Singer and Favorite Voice From an Animated Movie for her role in The Smurfs 2, while Lawrence has been nominated for Favorite Movie Actress and Favorite Female Buttkicker, and her film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will battle for the Favorite Movie prize opposite Iron Man 3, Oz the Great and Powerful and The Smurfs 2.
Robert Downey, Jr. could also be hitting the stage three times - as well as starring in Iron Man 3, he is also up for Favorite Movie Actor, opposite double nominee Johnny Depp, Neil Patrick Harris and Adam Sandler.
There are also multiple nominations for One Direction, Sandra Bullock, Taylor Swift and hit Nickelodeon show Sam & Cat, which leads the TV pack thanks to a Favorite TV Show nod and mentions for both stars Ariana Grande and Jennette McCurdy.
The 27th annual Kids' Choice Awards will take place in Los Angeles on 29 March (14). The event will be hosted by Mark Wahlberg.

CBS
Despite being designed to award artists for the greatest achievements in music, the Grammy Awards have become more about the performances than the actual prizes in recent years, and 2014 was no exception. Although they only gave out 10 trophies on air, the show ran an hour and a half over, filled with performers from every genre of music, featuring legends and newcomers alike. From Beyonce to Macklemore to Pink, everyone tried to have the biggest, the best, or the most spectacular performance of the night, and so we thought it only fair to reward their efforts with some awards of our own.
Best Indicator of What the 2015 Grammys Will Look Like - Beyonce and Jay ZDon't pretend that you haven't already learned this routine. Her surprise, self-titled album came out too late to be eligible for this year's awards, but Beyonce still had the honors of kicking the night off, and she did so with a performance of "Drunk In Love" with a performance the blended Flashdance with the "Cell Block Tango," and served as an excellent preview of what to expect from next year's show, when she will likely be nominated in every category she's eligible for (and probably a few she's not). If this is what the future holds for the Grammys, we're completely on board.
Most Likely to Be Your Dad's Favorite Performance - Paul McCartney and Ringo StarrLast night's awards spent a lot of time celebrating the legacy of The Beatles and their influence on music, including two separate performances by the group's two living alumni, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. First Starr busted out his best "dad at a wedding" dance moves for a rendition of his latest single, "Photograph," and then, after a long-winded intro from Julia Roberts, he joined McCartney and his technicolor piano for "Queenie Eye." We're all for honoring musical legends, but it seemed pretty clear that these two performances were aimed squarely at the middle-aged father demographic. On the bright side, though, we're glad to have found out that we have a lot of the same dance moves as Yoko Ono.
The "Pay Attention, Gentlemen" Award - John LegendJohn Legend busted out all of his smoothest moves to perform his latest single "All of Me," including several meaning ful camera pans to where his wife, Chrissy Teigen was sitting in the audience. Teigen was conveniently the only person sat under a spotlight, which allowed him to ensure that the entire world knew exactly who inspired his heartfelt ballad. That sound you heard in the middle of the song last night? That was women all around the world, smacking their boyfriends and husbands in the arm, and demanding to know why they can't be as romantic as Legend.
Most Likely to Make You Dance Around Your Bedroom - Daft Punk, Nile Rogers, Pharrell Williams, and Stevie WonderIt's a testament to "Get Lucky" that even when Pharrell swapped out his absurd, giant Mountie hat for one that was somehow bigger and weirder, everyone was too busy getting down to notice. And we do mean everyone: from Beyonce and Jay Z to Steven Tyler to Yoko Ono to Bruno Mars, everyone stopped what they were doing the second that bass line kicked in and danced, and for five minutes, the Grammys stopped being a long slog of commercials and piano ballads and felt like a proper celebration.
Best Tribute to a Previous Performance - PinkIn 2010, Pink gave one of the most memorable Grammy performances of all time, when she sang "Glitter in the Air" while in midair, performing tricks on aerial silks. This year, she decided to pay tribute to to that performance by busting out the aerial tricks on more time to sing "Try." Unfortunately, all of the incredible flips and spins only served as a reminder of how much the previous instance blew everyone away, and left most people feeling as if they were experiencing deja vu. However, she did help guilt everyone watching into renewing their gym membership, so she still comes out on top.
Bonus: Best Supporting Moustache - Nate Ruess. We don't know what possessed the lead singer of fun. to grow that facial hair, but it only served to distract everyone from the powerhouse vocal competition that was happening between him and Pink when they duetted on "Just Give Me a Reason."
CBS
Performance of the Night That Nobody Saw Coming - Kendrick Lamar and Imagine DragonsWhen it was first announced that Kendrick Lamar would be performing with Imagine Dragons, everyone was skeptical of what would result. Sure, the Grammys are all about surprising collaborations, but it seemed impossible for these two artists to mesh well. Turns out that we were all wrong: once they hit the stage, the audience both at home and in the arena woke up, and their mash up of "Radioactive" and "MAAD City" was the most exciting, addicting, memorable performance of the night. For five minutes, it seemed like the Grammys finally lived up to their promise and delivered something worthy of "the biggest night in music."
Most Unfortunate Performance Slot - Kacey MusgravesBeing the next big country star wasn't enough to save Kacey Musgraves from the thankless task of attempting to follow Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons. Before anyone had the chance to recover from having the roof blown off the Staple Center, everything immediately shifted to Musgraves, who performed her hit single "Follow Your Arrow." If she had performed at any other point in the evening, everyone would have been able to appreciate the song's clever lyrics and sweet message, but the abrupt tonal shift didn't accommodate her charm and left everyone feeling slightly underwhelmed. At least she has two shiny Grammy awards to take comfort in.
Best Guest Appearance - Queen LatifahWhen it came time for them to perform their hit song, "Same Love," Macklemore and Ryan Lewis decided to make some history by marrying 32 couples, both straight and gay, on air at the Grammys. Unfortunately for them, their touching performance was overshadowed by the presence of Queen Latifah as the officiant. She didn't do much other than invite the couples to exchange rings, and then pronounce them to be married, but somehow, in that short period of time, she managed to steal the show with nothing but sheer enthusiasm and a great dress. Not even Madonna could drag anyone's attention from the Queen, and couples all around the world put in requests to have her officiate their weddings as well.
Runner Up: Ryan Lewis, the silent, mysterious counterpoint to Macklemore, who popped up at random points throughout the performance to help guide people to their mark. Part producer, part choreographer, all enigma.
Most Cathartic Head-Banging - Taylor SwiftTaylor Swift won the Battle of the Melancholy Piano Ballads with a performance of "All Too Well," arguably the best song on her album Red, and the exact moment of victory came when she started whipping her hair back and forth as the song build up the the bridge. Swift gets a lot of flack for her dancing, but her head banging may be her best move of all - at once cathartic, ridiculous and a little bit melodramatic, it embodies everything that a good break up song should.
Most Likely to Remind You to Catch Up on Sleepy Hollow - Katy Perry and Juicy J Well, now we know what's on Katy Perry's DVR. The pop star took her new song "Dark Horse" in a distinctly witchier direction last night, with a performance that included skeletal trees, wishing wells, and a pole dancing routine performed on oversized broomsticks, all of which served to answer that eternal question: how do 18th century witches feel about hip hop beats? It might have seemed like an odd aesthetic choice at first, but it was one of the most visually stunning performances of the night. However, we do feel like she missed a trick by not having Juicy J dress up as Ichabod Crane. If anyone can pull off those giant gold buttons, it's him.
Biggest Middle Finger From CBS - Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Lindsey Buckingham, and Dave Grohl One of the most hyped performances of this year's Grammys featured Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age teaming up with Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham and Dave Grohl to close out the night and bring the house down. Unfortunately for fans who sat through the entire evening in anticipation, the performance was interrupted by random ads and the credits started rolling halfway through Queens of the Stone Age's song. That the Grammys decided to cut everyone off halfway through was surprising, considering the amount of press the collaboration had gotten in the run up to the awards, but interrupting one of the few exciting, energetic performances really added insult to injury. We're not the only ones upset, either - Reznor tweeted about being upset later in the night.
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Universal via Everett Collection
Every movie I saw in 2013, ranked from worst to best:
112. IDENTITY THIEFThe first comedy movie to not make me laugh once.
111. SAVING MR. BANKSInsulting, manipulative, dishonest, and unkind, with occasional song breaks.
110. SCARY MOVIE 5These movies have gotten much worse since we were 13.
109. GETAWAYINT. RACECAR. NIGHT. Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez crash into stuff.
108. GROWN UPS 2So much vomiting, so many homophobic jokes, so little plot.
107. I GIVE IT A YEARAn ugly, loveless rom-com that isn't clever enough to be satire.
106. DEAD MAN DOWNAll I remember is a whole lot of dark alleyways.
105. A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN IIIThe best part is the closing credits (I'm not being flip, they're actually kind of fun).
104. MOVIE 43Bad offensive joke after bad offensive joke after bad offensive joke...
103. WINNIE MANDELADesperately important story turned into a desperately dull movie.
102. TWICE BORNNo summary available due to lack of anything interesting happening in this movie.
101. R.I.P.D.Somebody forgot to give Ryan Reynolds any jokes.
New Line Cinema via Everett Collection
100. THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONEThis movie could have been funny if Wonderstone wasn't such a d**k.
99. ONLY GOD FORGIVESInteresting in the moments when it's not shoving its unpleasantness down your throat.
98. MAN OF STEELSetup: cerebral reinvention of Superman. Payoff: mass property damage.
97. CARRIEBeat-by-beat remake without any of the original's spirit.
96. THE TO DO LISTUncomfortably raunchy and mean. Thank God for Bill Hader.
95. KICK-ASS 2More Mean Girls shtick would have benefited this weak sequel.
94. PHANTOMI'm not sure this was actually a finished movie.
93. WRONGObnoxiously nonsensical, but not without its share of laughs.
92. THE SMURFS 2Mostly cloying, but Neil Patrick Harris is incurably watchable.
91. HANSEL &amp; GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS Dumb.
90. JOBSBoring.
89. NOW YOU SEE MEPossibly the worst ending in a 2013 movie, but a few bits of fun along the way.
88. WE'RE THE MILLERS[Pop culture reference]
87. RED 2John Malkovich's facial contortions save this from total failure.
86. STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS It hsa a few pros, but is mostly one giant... well, you know.
85. RIDDICKSurprisingly intriguing, when it isn't being deplorably sexist.
84. FREE BIRDSEh, turkeys are kinda funny.
83. PRISONERS Thankfully, scenes of Hugh Jackman yelling are intercut with the far superior scenes of Jake Gyllenhaal yelling.
82. WHITE REINDEER Any minute now, this movie is going to reveal its inner glory! Any minute now!
81. EVIL DEAD A better horror flick than the original! But still mostly forgettable.
Vertical Entertainment
80. GBFMostly charming, undone by its "safe" and "classy" ending.
79. THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALISTIt's kind of hard to get past how boring the title is.
78. DESPICABLE ME 2 Lots of minions. People like minions, right?
77. JOHN DIES AT THE END Not nearly as weird as it thinks it is or wants to be.
76. 2 GUNSHey, wait a minute, this movie is kinda funny! ... Not that funny, but kinda.
75. SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES MEI like to call this movie Click Offerman.
74. WHITE HOUSE DOWNWould be more fun if we were ready to laugh about terrorism.
73. AT ANY PRICEBoooriii— HOLY S**T WHERE THE F**K DID THAT COME FROM?!
72. BAD MILONot quite up to par with your expectations for the "Ken Marino has a demon in his butt" synopsis.
71. MONSTERS UNIVERSITYLackluster prequel, nice to look at, big band music.
70. THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES In its audacity, this silly amalgam of YA tropes can actually be a lot of fun.
69. THE CONJURING Fascinating subplots about the exorcism industry would be better served at the head of the film.
68. PEEPLESThere's a joke about wristwatches that I still think about.
67. SIDE EFFECTSSoderbergh's farewell caper doesn't have as much fun as its loony plot would demand.
66. ELYSIUMBroad and clumsy, but how wrong can you go with Bald Matt Damon?
65. OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFULIt works with Dark Side of the Moon.
64. THE COUNSELORThe book was better. Wait, this wasn't a book? Well it should have been.
63. IN A WORLD...A fun, biting look at an unappreciated industry! ... until it dissolves into mild genericism.
62. THE LONE RANGER Oh come on, you didn't love the William Tell climax?
61. THE WOLVERINENot always engaging, but at least it's about something.
Summit Entertainment via Everett Collection
60. WARM BODIESNot really about anything, but at least it's engaging.
59. THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWNUndeniably powerful, but feels like it could use a few more revisions.
58. ENDER'S GAMESpace Camp: The Movie! (Slightly less expensive than actual space camp.)
57. PACIFIC RIMMonsters vs. robots aside, there's a riveting world constructed in the backdrop of this sci-fi epic.
56. ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUESThe battle royale does not disappoint.
55. YOU'RE NEXTThe fun, swift hook isn't nearly as interesting as the great character work that it replaces.
54. THE WAY WAY BACKI, too, long to get life advice from a waterpark-dwelling Sam Rockwell.
53. SOME VELVET MORNINGEven if you see the twist coming, the chemistry here is impeccable.
52. THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIREShut up, Peeta, I'm trying to watch all the good parts of this movie.
51. 20 FEET FROM STARDOMA story that deserves a little more spirit and energy than it is given in this documentary.
50. DON JONNo. 50 on "Best Movies" list, No. 1 on "Best Trailers."
49. THE ROCKETA feel-good kids' adventure substantiated by the gravities of war. Wins in both areas.
48. CRYSTAL FAIRY &amp; THE MAGICAL CACTUS AND 2012Beautifully shot, interestingly written, impressively acted.
47. MUD Yes, we all loved The Goonies, and we all loved David Wooderson, so...
46. CUTIE AND THE BOXER A vivid struggle that is equal parts artistically, martially, and internally based. Engrossing all the way.
45. CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Tom Hanks' best performance in ages in a dramatic thriller that feels real (for obvious reasons).
44. THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG As a Legend of Zelda fan, this movie's world awakened something in me.
43. FRUITVALE STATIONThis character story is at odds with its out-universe goal, but Michael B. Jordan is unforgettable.
42. BEFORE MIDNIGHTI'm still not sure how I feel about that ending, but it was good to catch up wit Jesse and Celine.
41. DARK TOUCHEverything that Carrie could have been. A shocking fantasy about human pains.
Walt Disney Co via Everett Collection
40. THOR: THE DARK WORLDMore Chris O'Dowd.
39. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLORIntellectually stimulating, but doesn't hit all its emotional marks.
38. THE WORLD'S ENDI've been saying "Gooey Wooey Egg Man" for months.
37. THE GREAT GATSBYLights! Music! Pizzazz! Moxy! The bee's knees! The cat's pajamas!
36. ENOUGH SAIDBest TV drama's male lead + best TV comedy's female lead = quite a charming romantic dramedy.
35. SIGHTSEERSWell, this is rather amusi— HOLY S**T WHERE THE F**K DID THAT COME FROM?!
34. THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINESNot sure if the "three stories" approach makes for the most powerful character work, but it's an enchanting ride.
33. THE WE AND THE I A bus full of inner-city high school kids turns into a magical kingdom thanks to Gondry's dreamy edge.
32. NEWLYWEEDSA love triangle with marijuana as the third party. Weighty, but never overly so, and funny throughout.
31. GRAVITY. . .
30. PRINCE AVALANCHE Heh heh, look at Paul Rudd's mustache.
29. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Yes, we all loved the 'ludes scene. Very, very much.
28. ALL IS LOSTRobert Redford, you still got that same oomph. You too, ocean.
27. SAVING LINCOLN The weirdest, goofiest, funniest biopic about Abraham Lincoln ever.
26. THE KINGS OF SUMMER Kids run away, live in the woods, grow up, make jokes. Always a charming endeavor.
25. AMERICAN HUSTLE Little more than a cartoon, but an emotionally explosive and riotous one at that.
24. THE HEAT Melissa McCarthy insisting on stepping out of a moving car earns a full five minutes of laughter alone.
23. DRINKING BUDDIESNever dips too low on the emotional spectrum, but stays real and fresh in the face of the rom-com genre.
22. UPSTREAM COLORA difficult, confusing, harrowing thinker.
21. STOKER Somehow both effectively haunting and deliciously fun.
Room 237: the movie/Facebook
20. ROOM 237 Less a doting tribute to The Shining or Kubrick than it is to movie-lovers and their bottomless well of theories.
19. BLUE JASMINE Each party fires on all cylinders in Woody Allen's Streetcar gem, Sally Hawkins especially.
18. S#X ACTSThe sadness of this story of our youth's desperate obsession with and reliance on sex is its authenticity.
17. IRON MAN 3 The first true action comedy in Marvel's line of films shows how much fun superhero movies can really be.
16. ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW Take notes, John Dies at the End. THIS is one weird f**king movie.
15. NEBRASKA Father vs. son, past vs. present, dreams vs. reality. Everything here is touching, funny, and inviting.
14. PAIN &amp; GAIN Michael Bay talks a long, hard look in the mirror with this biting send-up of everything his other movies represent.
13. THIS IS THE ENDFar more interesting and insightful than it will get credit for being, This Is the End uses a literal apocalypse and no dearth of d**k jokes to deconstruct tenets of friendship and social politics.
12. THE ACT OF KILLING While this documentary would benefit from restructuring, the power of its message (especially its final few monents, not to mention the "anonymous"-heavy credits) is painfully resonant.
11. FROZENOffering the magic and whimsy you'll remember from time-honored Disney classics, but so much more in the way of its message, Frozen might very well be the most magnificent and meaningful animated feature yet to spring from Walt's legacy.
10. COMPUTER CHESSIt doesn't have much to say about the human condition (beyond maybe highlighting our propensity for arrogance and self-directed delusion). It doesn't tell a story that'll stick with you for very long. But Computer Chess reigns supreme as, far and away, the funniest movie of 2013.
9. SPRING BREAKERS A dark, wicked, wholly upsetting reflection of the toxic direction in which we might be headed. And James Franco gives a tour-de-force of a performance with his demonic scoutmaster Alien.
8. IT'S A DISASTER An intelligent, meticulously directed farce about group politics and conflicting personal philosophies, executed to near perfection thanks to the rhythmic participation of a more than capable cast.
7. 12 YEARS A SLAVEAn unprecedented masterpiece that sings the traumas not only of Solomon Northrup, a free man captured and sold into slavery, but in his fellow sufferers as well. For my money, the true anchor of the story is in Lupita Nyong'o's Patsey, whose suffering is unlike anything we've seen managed on the big screen in years.
6. HER With so much to say about such tremendous topics, Her manages to still dive so deep into the heart of its story: the pangs of love in the wake of the inevitable fallibilities of romantic relationships. Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson alike give dynamic performances, and Spike Jonze mystifies us with his strange, cold, all-too-familiar world.
A24 via Everett Collection
5. THE SPECTACULAR NOWThis is one of those movies you try to convince yourself to inch out of your top 10, or five, for fear of being seen as juvenile. ButThe Spectacular Now hits such genuine notes with Miles Teller's Sutter, climaxing at a moment where you'll recognize an angst so true to life and so criminally absent from most movies about the journey toward self-love.
IFC Films
4. FRANCES HA Months and months after my first encounter with it, this deceptively simple film sticks in my head, reminding me that its every artful beat is riddled with emotional weight and ironic humor alike. Greta Gerwig and director Noah Baumbach give us the a New York movie to rival Annie Hall, zooming in and out of the perspective of the young women and men who occupy, and drown within, today's version of the biggest, most stupefying city in the world.
CBS Films
3. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVISSadness, coldness, loneliness, failure... such wonderful things when handled by filmmakers like the Coen Brothers. Padding this antithesis of triumph with some of the most beautiful, somber music you'll hear all year, Inside Llewyn Davis makes us fall in love all over again with the very idea of the artistic struggle.
Touchstone Pictures via Everett Collection
2. THE WIND RISESHayao Miyazaki's final movie doesn't pass judgment on its hero, a man so devoted to his work (building weapons) that he neglects his wife, sister, and friends. It doesn't endorse these choices either. Instead, it hones in on the passions of its hero/antihero, challenging us to sympathize with a fellow whose only desire is to do his job while we lament his sacrifices. More even than Gravity does the frequently airborne animated picture induce dizzy spells as we connect with the conglomerate of colorful, intriguing characters in this grim but dainty biography.
Cinedigm via Everett Collection
1. SHORT TERM 12 There are so few flaws to highlight in The Wind Rises, Inside Llewyn Davis, Frances Ha, and the other entries on this top 10 list. What separates Short Term 12 is not a complete lack of error, but in an umatched spirit for the telling of its story. The movie wants us to feel the pains of counselor Grace (Brie Larson) and the disavantaged children for whom she cares, highlighting abused Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever) and orphan Marcus (Keith Stanfield). It also wants us to feel the hope that it brings to these characters in their plight to overcome the hands they have been dealt. Every emotion in this movie carries through with such force. For those of us who know any of these trials personally, they ring tremendously true. For others, they work to invite you into this sad but hopeful world. We've been gifted with a ton of exemplary cinematic works this year, but nothing sticks with me more than this tearful, heartrending masterpiece.
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ABC
After last week's episode where all the would-be entrepreneurs got chomped when it came to deals, would this one be more fruitful?
First In The Tank
First came Yubo, a customizable and easily-cleaned lunchbox that was created by Paul &amp; Cyndi Pedrazzi. They wanted $150,000 for a 15% stake. They presented it as an alternative to regular lunchboxes, which only have a set design and get dirty really fast. This one was able to be taken apart for dishwashers and also people could create their own designs. Their presentation was really energetic and they gave out cute customized ones that had caricatures of the Sharks on them.After they finished the presentation, they sent their two daughters to model the lunchboxes out of the Tank. It's never good for kids to see Mommy and Daddy potentially get raked over the coals.
They went into further detail: they had been in the market for four years, they owned the trademark for Yubo and Cyndi had a grander vision, selling them at amusement parks. They wanted Disney, but they would need a Shark for that.
Things always seem to be going smoothly in many pitches and then a problem surfaces. This one was no different. They had given an industrial designer a 20% stake and a royalty of 5% to 1% on sliding scale. 5% of sales. Then they uttered the two worst words EVER: In Perpetuity. Every Shark nearly slapped their foreheads simultaneously at that.
The fallout was swift. Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran were out fast - Cuban didn't like the royalty and Corcoran took issue at the size of the boxes, finding them too bulky. In a really dumb moment, Cyndi tried to stop Cuban after he said he was out. "Just let me stop you there..." "You can't stop him...he's OUT" retorted Corcoran. Even Cuban smirked at that.
Kevin O'Leary thought the whole idea had merit and offered them $150,000 for 10% plus the same royalty deal that the designer had. Robert Herjavec stirred the pot and offered $150,000 for 30%. He wanted them to make a decision fast. Lori Greiner decided to throw her hat in the ring and after there was a commercial break to raise the dramatic tension, she offered 150,000 for 20% and also added that she's in good with Disney. O'Leary, sensing that it was a major sticking point, dropped his royalty and offered the same amount and a 20% stake that would drop to 12.5% if they paid him back in 18 months. Not one to be denied, Greiner offered $150,000 for 15% that needed to be paid back in 15 months. Herjavec sweetened his pot by offering $150,000 for 15% and no loan. O'Leary, also known as Mr. Wonderful, offered more pressure: if they paid back in 18 months, it would drop to a 10% stake.
The entrepreneurs asked if any Sharks would team up and Herjavec said he would team up with Mr. Wonderful. That sealed the deal and the prospect of another shutout was vanquished quickly.
There was an update on a previous success: DropStop, which keeps keys from falling in the side of car seats. It was a Greiner deal and it's done really well, creating jobs and $5 million in sales since it aired five months ago. They projected $15 million in sales. They got into 3,500 Walmarts and as a sign of good PR, they also donated DropStops to a police department.
Second In The Tank
Kelly Coughlan and Jenn Deese were pitching Pursecase. They wanted $55,000 for 12%. It looked like a cellphone case with a handle and could hold credit cards and licenses in a side pocket.It also had a compact mirror.
Herjavec immediately said that he saw cases like that in Europe, but they didn't have pockets. They were making these for iPhone 4 and 5 and were filing a utility patent for the functionality of the flap. They had $33,000 in preorders and they impressed the Sharks with their margin. Then like the previous entreprenerurs, they had given up something early. They gave 15% equity to a manufacturer, but this time no royalties, and even nicer, they had a million-dollar credit line. What they needed the money for was to make molds for Samsung Galaxy. Greiner then mentioned that she sells something similar to that, but they apparently didn't do research.
Herjavec immediately bowed out and Corcoran thought it should be more streamlined. She was out. Cuban hated the accessory for tech market. He was out. Kevin offers $55,000 for $1 a unit and then .75 in perpetuity. Greiner jumped in. She used her favorite phrase, whether something is a hero or a zero and she saw it as a hero. She offered $55,000 for 15%. The two girls took about .3 seconds before accepting the offer. Herjavec, dumbfounded they hadn't even acknowledged O'Leary's offer, was channeling Home Alone, saying, "WHAT ABOUT KEVIN?!"
That was two straight deals.
Third In the Tank
The third entrepreneur was Joe Dauenhauer, who had a wicked Boston accent. His company was Chocomize, where people could create chocolate bars online. He wanted $500,000 for a 10% stake. The Belgian chocolate was really good, and customers could put edible pictures on the bars. He made customized ones for the sharks. The sales were good, he did $440,000 this year, though that was a slight dip from year before. He said there there are repeat orders and they were aiming for corporate sales. He says a Shark will be getting money back in 3 to 4 years. He has partners though, which can eat up equity and Cuban was immediately arguing that it was not proprietary.
O'Leary was the first to make an offer. He wanted Dauenhaer to leave to leave his partners and that he would give $500,000 for a 25% to start from scratch to make Mr. Wonderful's Chocolate.
The dominoes fell fast. Herjavec, Cuban, Corcoran and Greiner got out in really quick order. So it was back to Mr. Wonderful. Dauenhauer couldn't accept his deal and O'Leary snarked that he was going to make his "You're Dead To Me Bar" and send it to him. No deals. It wasn't going to be a perfect game this episode
Fourth in The Tank
In the previews for this episode, Herjavec was seen as saying, "Don't mistake my kindness for weakness" and it was going to happen in this one, so it looked kind of grim for a deal.
The entrepreneurs were Rick and Melissa Hinnant and the company was Grace &amp; Lace, which made frilly socks for those who wear boots. They wanted $175,000 for a 10% stake and they had over $1 million in sales with no marketing, which nearly knocked the socks off the Sharks (har har). What helped was the canny use of social media, including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. They sell for $34 per pair, for a cost of $5 each.
Greiner couldn't get into it and she was out. Rick said they need a strategic partner, which prompted Corcoran to make an offer - $87,500 and 5% if they could get another Shark. O'Leary offered $175,000 for 20% and would drop to 10% when they repaid the loan.
Herjavec thought they needed guidance. He offered $175,000 for 10%, which is what they wanted. Now it got really messy, really fast. Instead of grabbing the deal, they asked if Barbara can come into the deal with Herjavec, who then got mad. He'd met their offer and they still wanted to to hear others. Herjavec wanted an immediate answer. To compound matters, they asked if they could go outside to discuss the offer. Now, if you had high-def TV, you could actually see the steam coming out of Herjavec's ears. He withdrew his offer and said he was out.
Cuban, despite their waffling, made an offer. Again, they stalled and asked to go outside and discuss it. By now, even Greiner was shaking her head at their tactics. Not to be denied, Corcoran offered, and after what seemed like an eternity of the two entrepreneurs staring at each other, they accepted her offer over Cuban's while all the other Sharks shook their heads again.
Three out of four netted a deal, which was a marked improvement over the previous episode.
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Think of celebrities as our gladiator class: they step into the ring and do all sorts of stuff we'd never dream of doing ourselves. We watch through our fingers when they do, but we never look away. We love them as specimens, powerful in ways we could never be. We love them for being more perfect than we are. But we also love them when they're not.
It's not exactly Schadenfreude, the self-affirmation we feel when someone with every advantage fails. Okay, maybe we did delight in that Britney head-shaving, but there's something else in there, and it's not really about wanting them to feel bad. It's about us feeling good when we forgive them. It's reverse Schadenfreude, if you will, founded in our Puritan past.
So feel free to falter, Kardashians. Steal Taylor's spotlight, Kanye, we totally understand. And yes, Anne Heche, there really is a spaceship waiting to take you to heaven.
Let loose your grip Hollywood. We'll be there to catch you when you fall. And we'll be feeling fantastic about ourselves while we do.
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Country star Taylor Swift is set to show off her martial arts skills onscreen after reportedly landing a role opposite Samuel L. Jackson in Matthew Vaughn's new spy film The Secret Service. The Pulp Fiction icon will portray the movie's villain, who kidnaps Swift's character, only for her to escape and exact revenge, according to Britain's The Mirror.
A source tells the newspaper, "She will be required to have some heavy-duty martial arts training in order that her character convincingly kicks Samuel L. Jackson's butt."
The Secret Service, based on Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar's graphic novel of the same name, will also feature Colin Firth and Sir Michael Caine, while soccer superstar David Beckham was recently linked to a cameo appearance too.
Production is set to begin in London and the south of France later this year (13), ahead of a November, 2014 release.
Swift has already started building up her acting resume - she's previously starred on hit U.S. TV shows New Girl and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, as well as ensemble romantic comedy Valentine's Day.

If you've ever seen a college comedy — or heck, just about any underdog story — you can probably predict every beat of Monsters University: an earnest, hard-working newcomer pursues his unlikely passions in a new environment, quickly learning that he is in way over his head. There's a quasi-antagonistic foil, one who might eventually become his ally (or heck, best pal!), and a majorly antagonistic authority figure, and probably a series of competitions that'll prove the worth of our lovable heroes. They'll lose the first round, but by some loophole be allowed back into the games, only to reign supreme in every subsequent feat of strength, ultimately achieving something in the vein of self-worth, or new friendships, or a car.
And it works. Sure, any genre-savvy adult might find Monsters U to deliver one of Pixar's less impressive plots, but it hits every mark in terms of entertaining its younger demographic — it is bright and lively, kooky and funny (while teenage Mike and Sully aren't half as witty as their adult counterparts, their goofy frat brothers offer enough good-natured quirk to make up for it), and illustrative of the all-important messages of acceptance of yourself, no matter what your limitations, and others, regardless of how much they veer from your ideals. While the rest of the campus sees Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) as a nobody, he's sure from the get-go that he's destined to be a great scarer, obsessing over every theory and formula behind the exhaustive study. Jimmy Sullivan (John Goodman), on the other hand, is universally beloved and admired, banking on his father's legacy to help him coast through a field that he knows to "come naturally" for him.
But both young "men" are thrown for a loop when it turns out that neither brains nor charisma alone can build an effective scare machine. You need the full package. Thus, the heartwarming banding together of this way-too-different-to-Ever-be-friends-oh-wait-this-is-Disney pair, resulting in the lifelong friendship that we stumbled into in Monsters, Inc. ... with one exception.
These are Not the characters we met in Monsters, Inc. — not the Sully, and definitely not the Mike.
Sure, the easy argument is that as teenagers, the fellas had different attitudes, different outlooks, different personalities. That the events of Monsters University helped Sully to learn a lesson about hubris, eventually becoming the upstanding hero that we first discovered back in 2001. But does that forgive the fact that we're faced with a relative in the new release? And what about Mike? In the original, Crystal sighs and whines as a nebbishy 9-to-5er, a glory hound who seems less like a lifelong scaring aficianado and more so a cog in the all-encompassing machine of the monsters' benignly Orwellian society. He's a wiseass who fibs and smack-talks, who fails to file paperwork and aches to clocks out early. Not an evolution of the Monsters University hero, but a separate character entirely. And, in earnest, a much funnier one.
As such, we wonder if the story would have been better served with a focus on two different characters entirely — perhaps the son of Monsters, Inc.'s James Sullivan, and a wide-eyed original character in place of the pseudo-Wazowski. Naturally, this is simply not good business. People signing onto a Monsters, Inc. follow-up want to see the characters they fell in love with, and would be far more likely to hitch wagons to at the very least a thin guise of said characters than to something altogether new. But with a much younger spirit than its predecessor, a younger mentality and as such a younger audience to please, it's worth noting that the people this movie is really reaching were probably not even alive when Monsters, Inc. came out.
We'd be more inclined to judge the film as a standalone feature if it didn't grab for off-references to Inc. every few scenes, peppering in jokes about Mike's canon inability to take a good photo (or to recognize when he has taken a bad one), the eventual decay of the first's villain Randal (Steve Buscemi), and about the mysterious existence of special agent Roz, among others. With constant reminders to the glory that was Monsters, Inc., a movie that painted a vivid world that University's hardly lives up to, longstanding Pixar fans are bound to face disappointment.
However, those noble cinephiles able to take the new release as its own dish, feasting on the sweet and tender parable about friendship and tolerance, and chuckling at some of the crazier side characters' likable antics, will find it to be just enough simple fun and feel-goodery. While Inc. and many of its Pixar brethren are stocked with entertainment for all audiences, this one's really more for the kids ... which is odd, because there's a scene of monsters playing beer pong.
3/5
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We were all smiles when we had the delight of watching Joseph Gordon-Levitt bust out rapping to Good Vibrations' Marky Mark style in the first trailer for Don Jon. But now there's even more to grin about: in honor of Father's Day, the 50/50 star tweeted a clip from the film, which he not only stars in but also wrote and directed.
The 55-second chuckle-worthy clip captures a scene in which Don Jon (Gordon-Levitt) brings his gum-chomping and boob-bearing girlfriend, Barbara (Scarlett Johansson), home to introduce her to his parents.
In thick-coated New Jersey accents, Don Jon and his father Jon Sr. (Tony Danza) bond over how smokin' Don Jon's new babe is. After Barbara leaves the dining room to assist Jon's momma in the kitchen, Jon Sr. blurts, "Those t*ts! They're real?" Now that's quality father-son bonding.
The dramedy follows Don Jon, who sets the bar too high for his actual life after indulging in Way too much porn. Although it's truly a challenge to take Joseph Gordon-Levitt seriously with his bold accent and leather-jacket swagger, if Don Jon is on par with this clip, we promise to try to subside our giggles.
Catch the film in theaters Sept. 27.
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